July 2011

07/31/2011

After enjoying her observations in the Comments for more than a year and trading the occasional e-mail with her between times, I was struck by a particularly vivid conversational interchange with this avid clog lover. Apropos of nothing, I recently observed, "Isn't it fascinating how a photo of a pair of shoes can move you so?" To which she replied with her signature astuteness:

You and I are proportion savants: we are aware of and crave certain proportions that please us, and we are always on that search image. You and I share a texture/surface mania as well. And you and I find certain combinations of proportion, surface, and chiaroscuro highly charged. Most people in my acquaintance have only the most limited awareness of such things, and even then only under equally limited circumstances.

OMG! How does this woman know me so well??? Has she been rooting around in my closet unbeknownst to me??? But then the panic subsided with a sheepish moment of realization as I recalled that I had been online raving about this shoe or that for the better part of a year. It's pretty obvious what I like in footwear and why. Well, duh! But in any case, Ms. K's savvy explication of the irresistible wonder of footwear had me in its spell. Maybe she would be willing to share some of her own insights into that delight we all know so well. Happily, she said yes. And below you'll find her first in a series of occasional contributions to Every Clog Has Its Day.

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It’s a happy etymology that the word “arch” is the start of “architecture.”

Let’s face it: human anatomy is architecture, albeit with more flexibility and locomotor possibilities than most buildings. To me, the highly malleable arch of the foot is what lends magic to the architectural support structure of the leg.

As an anatomist and sculptress, the engineering of the human body fuels my love for shoes---the critical thinking skills that go into shoe design mesmerize and excite me.

Think about it (as I’m sure all of us regulars here on ECHID do!): a shoe must support, protect, propel, and decorate a foot during all its myriad daily duties. Shoes must bear the hundreds of pounds per square inch pressure we place on our feet as we walk, and be manufactured to literally grind for hours on end between a rock and a hard place—otherwise known to us city dwellers as the bones of our feet meeting the concrete of the sidewalk. Add to all these design challenges the expense of making such a hard-working foot container attractive, and we come (finally!) to clogs.

Clogs. They do it all. And when they perform reliably and cozily while satisfying our desire for soles that feed our souls, we must dip deeply into our wallets (or hold a yard sale or take a second job or investigate our home equity line of credit!) to have them in our closets.

I’m ever eager to revisit images of some of my favorite clogs introduced to us here, and share some of my observations about them with fellow shoe lovers.

To paraphrase Dorothy of Kansas, “Leather and nailheads and suede! Oh my!” All poised on a wooden sole to soothe and support a foot once it’s swallowed by that open throat.

The charm of this shoe lies in the imbalance of design elements: the rococo ogee curves punctuated with shiny metal, the colorful interplay of amber and sienna and ginger, and the simplicity of the silhouette all add up to a playful shoe to compliment skinny jeans. But there are subtle hints of danger in the heel taper and height, the toe point, and the mola of leather and suede that would superbly compliment a severe pencil skirt and jacket that’s all business. These aspects set up a country vs. city frisson that makes me want to take these shoes everywhere.

Like a wedding cake made with leather icing and brass fluting, these clogs are a marriage from heaven. Ooh, ooh! The bride in white ones of satin and suede, the groom’s in black kid and patent! There’s a lasting union!

All that and a pink box, too—what more could a shoe lover want?

—Melissa Krebs

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[On my feet as I blog: I feel so faithless today. Me. That clog crazed blogger. Wearing a pair of camo tabi boots. What's this world coming to? Don't worry. I'm not leaving the fold. Just taking a break for the day. I like to think when the temperature inside my condo returns to the lower 70s following the repair of my air conditioner on Thursday, I'll be returning to my regularly scheduled life. 'Til then, things just seem a little out of kilter.]

07/30/2011

We have so much in common, all those of us who gather here. Wouldn't it be fun to meet sometime? Share stories? Show off shoes? Maybe meet some of the craftspeople who make these magical creations we love to wear? One of my regular readers planted a seed that I'm going to let take in nourishment for a couple of days. But imagine what that might be like to have a clog gathering sometime, somewhere. More on this soon as I look into the future with some intriguing ideas. For now, though, it's time to glance into the past.

[On my feet as I blog: I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner, but then plans got cancelled. So the fun clogs I was hoping to wear never made it onto my feet. I ended up in my Cassidy wood-soled sandals from Earth Shoes all day.]

07/29/2011

Anybody feeling lucky? Regular reader hoosierdaddio wrote in to let me know that ClogOutlet.com has the western style Dora clog boot from Sanita available in a size 42. My experience has been that Sanitas run small. But if you're feeling that in addition to being the answer to life, the universe, and everything, this number also represents a shoe that'll fit your foot, you should surf your browser over to the product page and pick up these factory seconds for less than a hundred bucks. That's nearly half off!

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I've also been meaning to publish the link to this travel photo that I discovered some time back. In 2005, user mdbarcar2 uploaded an album's worth of pics to the Webshots photo sharing site from his trip through Asturias on the north coast of Spain. It looks like it was a fun trip. The visit to the cider maker made me especially thirsty. But what really caught my eye (of course) were the photos below. The first shot was captioned:

Check out this guy's shoes! They're Asturian clogs...designed to be able to walk through mud.

I've cropped the images to highlight the salient features, but you can click through the photo album to view the full pictures.

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And finally, just a few glimpses from the clog photo archives of regular reader T Scott. They're not all the wood soled clogs we know and love, but they do represent reasons to take heart considering that they were all marketed to men. Who knew?

Brands featured are, in order from top to bottom, Bata, Berkemann, Milano, and Swear.

07/28/2011

Random notes and observations from the Inbox of the most rabid clog fan I know: myself. Actually, I'd hoped to have a fresh edition of Featured Designers ready for today, but with my central air conditioning DORA* and the official news that the new one won't be installed until next Thursday (!!!!!!), I'm finding myself moving a little slower than normal in this 90° heat. At least I'm able to prop my front door open and put a fan in the hallway to direct some of the building's air into my condo while poising another fan at my balcony door to suck the hot air out. Worked quite well until the thunderstorm rolled in and I had to rush about cranking windows shut. Even so, I discovered that broiling that tuna steak in the oven was not the brightest idea given the heat and humidity. Anyway, the stormfront has brought with it a momentarily cooling, and I'm leaping upon the opportunity to get this post composed and uploaded.

* Dead On Repairperson's Arrival

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Polar clog boot from Jeffrey Campbell

What better place to take my mind during the hottest Chicago heatwave since 1995? To one of the planet's polar regions! Where there's tons of ice and snow and cold, cold, cold. At least for now. You have to think arctic thoughts when contemplating these shearling shafted beauties. Otherwise the summer heat will just turn your synapses into incandescent plasma while contemplating these toasty boots in temperatures approaching 100°. This boot has been documented on ECHID previously. But Lori's Shoes of Chicago apparently has a full range of sizes (sorry, guys, no 11s) and no takers. So these $236.00 babies have been reduced to just 70 bucks. Woo-hoo! Get 'em now so you can get some use out of them before global warming fully overtakes the planet.

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Giddy Up clog from Rocket Dog

Meantime, while soliciting cat care advice from friend, neighbor, and lifelong clog fan, Julie, she forwarded a photo of a member of her family. I'm such a clog fan, it took me awhile to notice the kitty. Okay, I'm kidding. And someday when my own cat Miu Miu gambols at my own clog shod feet, I'll snap a pic and post it so you can see my cute little Russian Blue. Julie has entitled this portrait Sloth Cat vs. Rocket Dog.

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Theodora clog from Sanita

Then, regular reader Melissa Krebs cashed in recently on another pair of sale-priced clogs I posted about a few weeks back. And so happy she was, she took time away from admiring them to point a camera lens in their direction so that she could share their loveliness with us. I have to say, this was a pair that didn't catch my eye initially, but as with so many things, the presence of a flesh and blood human being gives them a character and attitude that they just didn't have on their own. Good on ya, Melissa (as my Irish friends would say)! They're gorgeous! Here's hoping you'll make someone very happy to see you trotting along with them on your feet! Besides yourself, of course.

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What platform boot from Jeffrey Campbell

"Who's on first. What's on second. I Don't Know is on third." "Exactly!"

This ever so funky platform boot is named What, and if I'm not mistaken, it's already a hot seller. The style was featured in a blue suede in the Fall Winter 2011 Solestruck look book, but their website already offers it in this intriguing ribbed black leather version. And already the 8s and 9s have been snapped up. I know it's not a clog by any stretch of the imagination, but more than one clog fan I've shown it to has made the wide-eyed gaga face that signals unreasoning desire.

The product description lists this boot as made of "subtly striped, treated leather". I assumed it was just a wide wale corduroy material from the look of it, but Julie at Solestruck steered me to a better understanding of what I was seeing:

Oh, that What is so awesome! You can't tell how interesting the texture is until it's in your hands. It's soft like suede and shiny, but looks like it should be rough. Fits pretty nice, too! They're such an awesome fabric. So soft yet looks like it should be rough.

Talk about customer service! She even posed with a pair on her feet for us.

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Ronson platform boot from Jeffrey Campbell

And while I'm deviating from clog orthodoxy, I'll just go ahead an share a shot of a pair of shoes that tempted me to stray from the fold. Don't hate me. I couldn't resist.

They were there in my size, and I just thought, it's now or never. After they arrived the other day, I tried 'em on with my leather trousers and realized I'd spent the money wisely. These shoes do rock!